Wheat Batter Bread

When I woke up this morning I realized we didn’t have much for breakfast. Frankly, we didn’t have much for food–there are veggies from the garden, but little else. No milk, no half-and-half, no bread. I thought a batter bread–the kind of bread you mix and bake rather than mix, knead and bake–would be the solution. And it was, sort of. Wheat batter bread takes longer than white batter bread to put together–you mix, you let rise, you mix relentlessly (the recipe I’ll point you to called for 250 strokes–I stopped at 200 with a tired arm), you put in pans, let rise, and bake. It was definitely less time and work than a traditional bread, white or wheat, and I was able to bake a loaf (two, actually) before the day began to heat up, but still, even though I started about 7:30 or so, it wasn’t out of the oven until 9:30, and at that point we had to run. But at any rate, the loaves are delicious and tender and when I got home from errand-running, I enjoyed a slice with peanut butter. Recipes like this are great for novice bakers or those who want to begin experimenting with yeast and bread baking without getting into kneading and really precise risings. These loaves have a great crust and even had a nice dose of oven spring–that lovely crack along the side where the bread expands in the early baking.

Here’s the recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breads/whole-wheat-batter-bread/ I tweaked it a hair–I cut the amount of salt in half.

Incidentally, I’m almost out of yeast. Hard to believe, since I once had two pounds. It took a while to use up, but I now have to find another massive quantity of the stuff. Here’s the photo from when it arrived: